November 13 - Delta Air Lines has banned nearly 550 customers for refusing to wear masks aboard its planes, its chief executive said Thursday. It is the latest step the company has taken to assure employees and passengers that it is taking the pandemic seriously.

 

Over the summer, airlines started to ban passengers for refusing to comply with mask requirements in an effort to bolster confidence in the measures the companies were taking to protect travelers. They have also been deep-cleaning planes, leavings seats empty and reducing physical interactions between staff and passengers.

 

“Fortunately, that number represents a tiny fraction of our overall customers, the vast majority of whom follow our guidelines and appreciate the steps we are taking to keep them safe and healthy,” Delta’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, said in a letter updating staff on a range of subjects.

 

United Airlines said that it had put nearly 350 passengers to its no-fly list. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines declined to say how many people they had put on similar lists.

 

Delta and Southwest, which are widely regarded as the strongest companies in the industry, are the only large airlines leaving middle seats empty to promote distancing, in part because they can afford to forgo the revenue from keeping seats empty. Southwest plans to end the practice after Thanksgiving and Delta has said it will leave it in place at least through the end of the year.

 

With demand for flights down substantially — airport traffic on Wednesday was down about two-thirds compared with last year, according to federal data — airlines are desperately marketing the measures they’re taking to keep passengers safe.

 

 

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